(Taking stock of) What’s in your hand?

There’s a statement that says “use what you got, to get what you want.” It simply means there comes a time when each of us should take inventory of what we have access to. So often we look in all the wrong places for the tools we need to accomplish the mission set before us. I recently heard a song by Pastor Sheryl Brady that reminds us that what we need is already on the inside of us. I’m thoroughly convinced that we have what it takes for our dreams to be realized and our desires to be fulfilled.

As I look at Exodus chapters 3 and 4, Moses was called upon by God to deliver the people of Israel from bondage and captivity. Moses was also commissioned to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let the people go. This was no easy task for Moses, so he thought. He felt inadequate, unequipped and unworthy to fulfill the assignment God called him to do.

Moses had a conversation with God and continued to make excuse after excuse as to why he couldn’t fulfill the task at hand. God had to remind Moses that he had just what he needed. He asked Moses, “what is that in thine hand,” and Moses answered, “a rod.” For Moses, it was just that, a rod; a dried piece of wood that was used as a walking stick and an instrument for navigating his way through difficult terrain.

However, God saw it as so much more. God saw it as a tool he could use in the hand of his servant.

I believe God has asked some of us that same question; “what is that in thine hand?” When he poses that question to us, he is really asking; what’s under your control? What do you have possession of? What are you good at? What are your talents and abilities?

God has purposed us for greatness. Yet, some of us will never walk into what he predestined for us because we fail to see that the blessing is already in our hands.

As I examine the scriptures a little further, In 1 Samuel 17:49 God used what was in David’s hand to slew the Philistine giant Goliath. In Judges 15:15 He used the jawbone of a donkey in the hand of Samson to slew 1000 men. In John 6:9, I’m reminded of a young boy who had 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and Jesus used it to feed the multitude. These scriptures clearly remind us that little becomes much when placed in the hands of God.

If we were to examine all the ways God used the rod in Moses’ hand, they would be numerous. But one thing is for sure; because Moses allowed God to use what was in his hand, the people of God were delivered.

Exodus 14:13-16 states, “Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me: speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”

Not only was there power in Moses, David, Samson and the young boy’s hand but there is power in your hand too! Refuse to focus on what you don’t have and begin to celebrate what you do have.

When you present what you have to God, he’ll give you the power to use what you got, to get what you want. What’s in your hand?